In the Mist on the Marsh
by RaeynnBeau
Summary: Set in the original Naruto verse; Naruto and Sasuke are sent to the Country of Waves on a routine mission. But what happens when the return trip doesn't go according to plan ...? Currently rated for a bit of language; may go slightly higher in the future for violence/gore.
1. I Take You and Vow

**A/N** **:** I wrote this fanfic … I want to say like 10 years ago; it was in high school, when Naruto was still first coming out – in my notes it says I was watching it current and there were only just over 100 or so episodes released at the time or something. So yeah; this one is old. I just found it, hand-written in my old writing things … So I decided to type it up and edit it because I remember liking it a lot. Yeah. It wasn't as good as I remembered; it needs a lot of work … Hopefully it's not too bad, and I didn't really check for continuity because that would've been a headache and a half.

So in short … This might be slightly AU, and I've edited to the best of my abilities; apologies for anything too heinous.

Now, with that out of the way, 10 to 12-ish years later, let's get on with this fic.

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 **I Take You and Vow**

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"Tsunade-baba," the blond complained, scrubbing at one eye with his fist irritably, "it's the middle of the damned night!" Naruto was in a not so good mood because he had been sleeping mercifully without dreams he could remember when Kakashi had shaken him awake and told him to get up, the Hokage wanted a word. When the two had arrived as dictated, Sasuke was already there, standing in the middle of the room in front of the desk that the well-endowed woman stood on the other side of.

"Kuso gaki … (1)" Tsunade muttered under her breath before saying a bit louder, addressing Naruto more candidly, "it's not the middle of the night; it's 4:30 in the morning." Before the Genin could open his mouth to argue, the Godaime held up a hand to stop him and continued with, "you have a new mission, and you will be leaving in an hour." Blue eyes stared in disbelief from under his forehead protector, while black eyes of the same age watched the leader of Konoha carefully, not being anywhere near as disrespectful as his team mate.

"Tsunade-baa, you're scaring me a little …" he managed eventually, sounding seriously concerned for a moment, which made her eyes narrow slightly, not sure what he was getting at. "… … I think you're getting senile in your old age." And there it was; the flippant attitude he'd lost for just a moment when it seemed like he was actually being serious. The vein on her temple was nearly visible as she clenched a fist; it was taking all of her patience not to hit him with every ounce of her strength straight through the floor.

"I'm assuming you're referring to the fact that Sakura is still in the infirmary, and Team 7 was on stand down until further notice?" she managed through slightly grit teeth before suddenly looking at Naruto, gold eyes boring into blue, unblinking. "Well, consider this further notice. I'm perfectly aware that it will only be two of you, but that's all it should take. It's a C-level mission, and that is only because you have to leave Konoha to do it, otherwise it wouldn't qualify higher than D."

"What do we need to do?" both of them turned to look at the speaker; it was the first time the Uchiha had made a sound since the encounter began, and he didn't look up from where he'd turned his gaze to the ground. There was a pause before Tsunade sat down at the desk, idly picking up a piece of paperwork that was sitting on top of the large stack.

"It's a simple escort mission just past the borders of the Fire Country and into Wave Country, where you've been before," she'll show them the sheet, which appears to be a map; the section of the the Land of Waves that juts out as a peninsula is circled. "It shouldn't take more than two days, there and back. The only thing that might slow you down is the unseasonably inclimate weather they have been having, but I'm sure a little humidity and rain won't be too formidable of an opponent." Naruto made a bit of a face at that comment, but before he could get a word in edgewise, she kept speaking.

"Anyway; like I said, you are to meet your charge at the front gates in an hour; I suggest you go and pack. _Lightly_ ; you're not going to be gone long." Before anyone else could say anything, Sasuke inclined his head slightly before disappearing, likely to do as told and pack a few necessities for this brief mission. Putting his hands behind his head and grumbling, Naruto turned and left as well, and Tsunade caught a few comments about how he didn't understand why they had to leave so early if it was such an unimportant mission, etc.

Once the two young teenagers were out of the office, Tsunade let out a long breath, slouching heavily in her chair and rubbing at her temples. She knew Kakashi was still standing there, but honestly she just needed to let the stress out for a moment. And she didn't need the Copy Ninja to say anything; she already knew what he was thinking.

"Of course I think it's foolish to send two Genin alone on an escort mission," she said heavily as she rubbed her temples; it had actually completely escaped her notice that it was so early in the morning – she had been up reading documents, and the time had simply gotten away from her, what with everything else going on that needed attention when you were the sole leader of a rather sizeable political power. "But I don't have a choice. If I did, I would at least send you with them; you know I would."

Glancing up, not that she was looking for his approval or anything, but he did nod in understanding, though he didn't offer any other acknowledgement of what she'd said. Clearing her throat, Tsunade sat up in her chair, straight-backed aTnd poised, as she was expected to be, before she next spoke.

"You have your orders too." Kakashi bowed at this statement, taking the dismissal as it was, and leaving a moment later. For a few moments, gold eyes stared at the wall across the room from her as she contemplated the decisions she'd made over the past hour or so, and hoped that they had been the right ones …

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 **Tsu zu ku ...**

 **(To Be Continued…)**

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Footnotes:

1 – Kuso Gaki, if I remember correctly, is how she refers to Naruto in the original series; it means something akin to "you damned brat".


	2. To Share All That is to Come

**A/N** **:** Ok, originally this fanfic had an OC in it, and I have evolved as a writer since 10ish years ago … Now I _hate_ OCs. She was a means to an end, and I tried to write her better, but it just wasn't working. And hilariously, she actually looks and acts very similarly to the canon character I replaced her with, same hair color/style, same mannerisms, very similar clothing … Super funny to me because I wrote this many years before she existed in the series. xD

However, since she's now an actual character from the series, that means the timeline has to have diverged even further; this is well after the first Chuunin exam of the series, but Yagura is still alive and kicking. Though more importantly he's still the fourth Mizukage, and still being the worst person ever because tyrants suck and so does mind control, y'know – all that.

Oh also, all of the thank yous to SeriosAstor for beta-reading/editing this and making suggestions! ;D

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 **To Share All That is to Come**

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Sasuke walked through the Uchiha clan's district with his hands at his sides, heading to the place he'd called home his entire life to pack a few supplies for the mission. He hadn't much cared that the leader of Team 7 had come to tell him about the Hokage wanting to see the two teenage boys of their group. It also hadn't bothered him that he'd been woken so early in the morning, though it was a bit of a hassle. At first he had thought it was because he needed a new dosage of medicine, which was true, he did, and he'd received it when he'd arrived before Naruto. There had just also been a mission attached he hadn't anticipated.

The survivor of the Uchiha clan was slowly dying, after all – mentally, anyway. The curse seal from Orochimaru, if allowed to go unchecked, probably would have done far more damage to him than it had at this point; Kakashi's Fuuja Houin (1) by his own admission had just been a quick, painful fix. It couldn't last forever, and the more time that passed between sessions of seal being re-applied, as it needed to be, the more difficult it became to resist using what it sealed away. Sometimes it was like … he heard it speaking to him, whispering in the back of his head in an awful hiss, trying to tempt him to give in to the power … As it was the constant pain and what he assumed were essentially hallucinations had worn him down almost to the point of giving in more than once.

If Tsunade hadn't come back to the village to be Hokage, there was a good chance it would have already won … Though being in constant pain and fighting against the foreign chakra destroying his mind wasn't a picnic, the survivor of the Uchiha clan had yet to succumb in no small part thanks to the Godaime. The fifth leader of the Village Hidden in the Leaves was a skilled medic, for sure, but as she was also very busy managing basically _everything_ , she didn't have time to dedicate to coming up with a way to remove the curse mark entirely. The best she could do was stave off the pain with a capsule she developed for the brunet to take once a day, coupled with reapplication of the Copy Ninja's sealing technique once a month or so.

Speaking of the pain medication, he reached into the brown pouch at his waist and withdrew the small container he'd been given, opening it and removing two capsules, tossing them in the back of his throat and swallowing as he walked. They were bitter, but he was used to that, and he ignored the tang as he put the rest back into his belt pouch. Absently, he reached up to press gingerly at the right side of his neck on the back where the mark was, wincing slightly. He knew the painful ache would fade soon, so he dropped his hand, ignoring it as he set to collecting up what he'd need to take with him.

It wasn't long before he was heading back toward the gates of Konoha to wait for Naruto and the person they were supposed to escort to Wave Country. It occurred to him that Tsunade hadn't even told them who the person was, or where precisely in Wave Country they were going but … Nodding to the guards at the gate, he went to sit just outside of them, in what would have been the shade of the trees if it had been a little later in the day. As it was the sun was just starting to come up over the horizon. Closing his eyes, he leaned back, letting out a slow breath. The pain in his shoulder was beginning to ebb, which mean that maybe he could relax a little. It was too late for sleep, but anything was better than nothing.

It wasn't long before he heard footsteps approaching, and he knew that gait anywhere. His suspicions were confirmed when the pace stopped suddenly and switched to a quieter, much more sneaking tread. He stifled an exasperated sigh, waiting a few moments before he spoke to the blond that probably thought the brunet was sleeping.

"Cut it out, Naruto," Sasuke muttered, effectively stopping the jinchuuriki in his tracks before he tried anything stupid. He was always trying to play pranks, or tease him – always trying to get a rise out of the Uchiha. The quietly approaching footsteps faltered, and there was a pause before there a heavy sigh admitting defeat – or at the very least that he'd been discovered. Sasuke opened an eye to look at his teammate, who stood there with a small pack, apparently having followed Tsunade's adamant instructions that they wouldn't be gone long, which was one of the things that had been bothering the black haired ninja ever since they'd been briefly informed of their mission earlier. Why so heavily emphasize the short-term nature of the mission…?

"This doesn't even make any sense," Naruto's voice cut into the Uchiha's thoughts, "if this mission is so lame and boring why send us so urgently?" the blond griped, putting his hands behind his head and flopping down on the ground next to the survivor of the Uchiha clan. His gaze didn't follow his teammate; he just continued staring straight ahead, waiting for their escort charge to appear, thinking. Well, to the extent that the blond could think.

"You don't think it was strange?" Sasuke asked eventually, not realizing that out of the context of his own musings that question might not have meant anything to the blond. That is, until Naruto half snapped at him in response.

"Think _what_ was strange?!" He once again suppressed the urge to sigh; it was the only strange thing that had happened to the both of them all day, considering the 'day' had started less than an hour ago for both of them, as presumably Naruto had been asleep before they'd been summoned to Tsunade's office. So it shouldn't have been too much of a leap to figure out what he was talking about, but …

"How adamant the Hokage was that we wouldn't be gone long," Sasuke explained, tilting his head back to touch the tree he sat against, absently stretching the still inflamed flesh on his neck a bit. "It was like … It was like she thought if she said it enough times it would be true." It had been bothering him since they'd left the Hokage's presence. She had kept repeating over and over that this will be a fast mission, they aren't staying long, don't pack too much you won't need it, etc. It was as if she had been trying to convince _herself_ of these things, rather than them. And that had sent up a flag in the Uchiha's mind; something wasn't right about all this. Barring the fact that she was sending two _genin_ to complete a mission, and it was basically law that all missions were carried out by a three man team with a higher ranking leader accompanying them, which held all kinds of connotations in and of itself… He wasn't sure why she was so desperate that she'd send them out alone, but this entire situation read as unnerving to him. Maybe desperate wasn't precisely the right term, but he wasn't sure what would otherwise spur her to make the decision she had in this situation, so …

Apparently now that he'd suggested it to Naruto, when he did finally glance at the silent blond he could see his teammate was considering his point – which told him that it likely hadn't occurred to him before either. Frowning, the blond put a hand to his face, and Sasuke could almost see the smoke pouring out of the younger nin's ears as the gears in his head ground against each other. However, the expression cleared up a few scant moments later, and he just sort of shrugged, sitting up straight and saying,

"Well, weird mission or not, whatever comes we're in this together. I'm sure we'll be fine." The brunet couldn't understand the blond's undying conviction and optimism in the face of most obstacles, whether they were known or unkown. It was enough to make the Uchiha crazy sometimes.

However, before Sasuke could respond or say anything else on the matter a woman wandered out of the gates, seeming a bit lost, but after looking around for a moment, she settled on approaching them. Her long red hair was partially pulled up on top of her head in a topknot, the rest cascading down her back and around her. It was a bright contrast to her blue, almost robe-like dress and pale skin. Green eyes skimmed over the two teenagers that remained seated before her, and she nodded almost to herself before smiling at them and coming closer, what was visible of her lavender boots tapping the ground lightly as she walked.

"I'm pleased to meet both of you; I assume you are my escorts to the Wave country?" she asked, surprisingly bowing to them, especially since she looked a fair bit older than the genin, so the degree of respect was reasonably unexpected. "I'm Mei. Terumi Mei." Sasuke sent a nod her way, though he kept his expression neutral. Naruto beat the Uchiha to saying anything in response, as per usual.

"Yoroshiku, (2) Mei; I'm Uzumaki Naruto – this is Uchiha Sasuke," the outgoing blond in the orange jumpsuit exclaimed, clearly liking her as he did most people on sight. Sasuke was a bit more wary though; something seemed off about her. Different. He wasn't sure what exactly, but it put him … Not on edge per se, but made him a little paranoid. It didn't help that when she bowed he had caught a glimpse of her face even though she'd tried to tilt it downwards. She'd winced.

This mission just kept getting stranger and stranger.

"Since we're all here a bit early, shall we head out?" she suggested, and Sasuke stood from where he'd been sitting, picking up his bag and putting it on his back before, a few moments later, they set off down the path…

"Ne, Mei," Naruto stated after only a short while of walking in silence, "So, you don't have a pack ..." Sasuke didn't say anything; he was in the front of the group, while the jinchuuriki was walking next to their charge a few paces behind him. He'd noticed as well that she didn't seem to have much by way of supplies with her, but then, he didn't think it wasn't much his business anyway.

"Oh; it's such a short journey it didn't seem necessary to bring a full pack." There it was again; people insisting this would be a short mission. Understandably, yes, it would take them a day of moderately hard travel to get to Wave Country, and it would take the two genin a day of hard travel back. Technically a short mission, but he couldn't understand why there was such a rush, and he didn't understand why there was a need to travel hard to get to their destination so quickly; it would make more sense to take a little longer and be better rested, especially since their team was at half strength.

"Oh …" Naruto sounded like he didn't understand the answer at all, and was likely going to ask for clarification. The Uchiha wasn't disappointed when he heard his teammate continue speaking. "Well, how do you –"

"Stop being annoying." Sasuke spoke for the first time, cutting him off because he was growing exasperated with the attempts at small talk, no matter how recently they had begun. Everyone was being evasive with details on this mission; obviously no one was going to answer questions directly. He hadn't expected Naruto to take kindly to the admonishment, and the orange clad ninja paused a moment before he picked up his pace a little so that he was walking next to the brunet, half-shouting in his loud, obnoxious voice, "Oi _asshole_ what's your problem!? I wasn't being annoying, I was making conversation—" Honestly sometimes Naruto made quips too easy; even when Sasuke wasn't in the mood to rile him up, it was just painfully simple. Case in point …

"Same thing," Sasuke interrupted again. The blond ground his teeth together as he moved a little more quickly, getting up into the Uchiha's face so that he was a few scant inches away, walking backwards because Sasuke didn't stop the slightly brisk pace they were keeping even with the jinchuuriki in front of him.

"I wasn't even talking to you! You've got some nerve; what the hell crawled up your _ass_ \- ever since this morning you've been—"

"Stop!" The sudden shouted command was obeyed so abruptly Sasuke almost ran into Naruto, the blond peered around Sasuke's head at Mei, who had given the order, since the red head was walking at the back of their group alone after Naruto had gone to the front. She gently took both of their arms and pulled them back towards her by their biceps, stepping in to the space they'd been occupying a moment later. Bending down, she started to do something, and Naruto leaned over her slightly without getting too close to see what she was doing.

When he saw what she was crouched nearby, Sasuke glanced and immediately knew what was on the ground without getting any closer. A long, thick, hose-like object laid in the road, and judging by the strides he had been taking it was likely Naruto would have stepped directly on top of it if Mei hadn't stopped him when she did. Carefully she picked it up, pulling on it slowly, and out of the bushes emerged the head of a very annoyed snake.

"This is an adder. One of the only snakes native to the area, and probably the most dangerous of the species found in the forest here," she said lightly, explaining as she continued to gently reel in the body, which was very dark grayish brown with a black diamond like pattern along its head and back.

"Oi," Naruto hissed, turning back to Sasuke, "you bastard! I almost stepped on that snake; I'm seriously going to kick your ass if you get me killed!" Sasuke raised an eyebrow, dark eyes flickering to meet blue for a moment.

"… How did you plan on doing that if you're dead?" He asked blandly. Naruto opened his mouth, likely about to retort with _something_ , but was distracted by Mei, who appeared to be picking _up_ the snake she had just told them was very dangerous.

"I thought you said that was poisonous! What are you doing!?" She was holding the increasingly irritated reptile less than arm's length from her face, as if she wanted to examine something on the underside of its chin or perhaps in its mouth. The snake for its part had its fangs barred and was hissing wildly, writhing around in her tight grip, trying to escape.

"It isn't poisonous; it's venomous … Those are two very different things. But yes, that is why it's so dangerous … If you don't know what you're doing, of course," she murmured in response. It almost seemed like she was waiting for something … Sasuke absently noted she had a small jar in her the hand that wasn't holding the snake, and at once she proceeded to shove the creature's open mouth onto the lid, which seemed to be made of some sort of thick paper. The container in question appeared to be half full or so of a clear-ish liquid that glinted with a gold sheen in the sunlight. After a moment, more clear-gold liquid was now being added, courtesy of the adder's dripping fangs that had punctured the top of the container. The teenagers watched mutely as she took her thumb, rubbing it over the top of the small black diamond that sat between its eyes, before Naruto asked,

"What are you doing …?" This did nothing to deter her actions, and she finished what she was doing, eventually letting the extremely irritated snake go after carefully removing its fangs from the lid of the jar. It slithered off angrily into the bush, and she stood up, putting another lid on top of the paper covering on the jar she held.

"I am harvesting venom." Mei said by way of explanation. "It is possible to make a remedy for Marsh Sickness with it, and it's very rare to find adders in Wave Country; it's the reason why I came to Fire Country. And I need to collect as much as I can, even if it's while we're walking." The orange jumpsuit clad ninja nodded in understanding, accepting this answer. Sasuke was once again skeptical however; snake venom in a remedy? In what world, unless you were making an anti-venom? He wasn't a medical ninja or anything, but they had studied the basics in the academy, and he knew enough to know that the entire purpose of venom was to cause damage in some way or another.

"Shall we?" she asked, gesturing to the road; it was only a moment or two later before they had started on the path again. For a long time, they walked without incident or much sound except for the blond's periodic chattering. The pace was slow as it was; they would probably still get where they were going on time, and as Mei was a civilian they didn't have much choice … But Sasuke was getting quite bored … He'd been considering this mission and all the strange components that made it up, but he still didn't have enough information to really put anything together yet. It was an annoying mystery, and since he had nothing better to do as they traveled he was trying to solve it, and six hours later he had yet to make any real headway.

There were only two reasons he could think that Tsunade would choose to send the two genin on a mission to another country. The first was that she had no other choice; all other teams were occupied. If that were the case, which it very well could have been, then that brought up a great deal more questions … But the other was that perhaps she _wanted_ to send a small entourage for some reason. But the most logical purpose of that is to go unnoticed, and Konoha had reasonably good relations with Wave Country, in no small part thanks to Team Seven's work when they were newly dubbed genin.

As they traversed the forest of Fire Country it slowly became progressively thicker, steadily choking off the sunlight as they travelled, which was to be expected; it did so in the southern and south eastern sections of the terrain. Naruto had been remarkably silent for this entire time, leaving Sasuke to his puzzling in peace for once; however, an odd noise broke through the silence and caught his attention. It was the blond's stomach. Growling. The Uchiha wasn't even surprised; but he did sigh.

"Shut up Sasuke!" Naruto immediately went on the defensive as soon as the noise escaped the slightly older teenager, "normal people eat THREE TIMES in a day!"

"… And what gave you the idea that you were 'normal', Dobe …?" (3) Came the quip almost before Sasuke realized he was speaking. The indignant blond continued to voice his grievances for a few moments, but Sasuke stopped paying attention to what the blond was saying. Something caught his attention. Glancing back and forth without moving his head, he was almost sure he had picked up on a chakra that didn't belong to their group.

"Naruto, shut up," Sasuke hissed; but it was too late – whatever he'd felt was long gone by now. The blond to his credit did immediately stop griping and looked at the brunet slightly inquisitively, but the Uchiha didn't explain. He was just about to activate his sharingan to see if he could see any trace of the chakra he was sure had been there a moment ago … It didn't matter much though, because he had his answer in a few seconds.

Suddenly kunai and shuriken were hurled at the small group from all directions, and at first it was all they could do to dodge. Sasuke jumped back toward Mei, kunai in hand to defend their charge. The brunet was surprised when that the redhead put her back to him and drew a kunai for each hand, knocking back the projectiles that came her way skillfully. This was certainly an advantageous development – they hadn't been given any indication that she knew how to protect herself to any degree, but it was definitely a welcome, if confusing, bonus. He didn't have time to stop and figure out how skilled of a kunoichi she was or why she needed genin helping her at all if she knew what she was doing; at this point he had no choice but to focus on the task at hand. _It doesn't matter that she can defend herself; this pathetic skirmish could be over in a moment … You could end it._ The familiar rasp in the back of his mind tickled his ear, and black eyes narrowed as he brushed it off, as he always did.

"Kage Bushin no Jutsu!" The smoke cleared quickly as several versions of Naruto appeared in its wake, about half launching themselves literally and figuratively into the trees as the others crowded around Mei to help defend her. The jinchuuriki proceeded to take several shuriken from his pouch and without forethought or ceremony the blond genin joined the more active half of his clones, throwing himself at the nearest shadow in the trees.

"Naruto!" Sasuke called after him but he was ignored, which though exasperating wasn't too surprising. _They most likely want us separated you blithering idiot_ , he thought to himself with a mild curse. What was going on? Why was this happening – it was a simple escort mission, and yet it seemed like there were endless numbers of ninja attacking them judging by the figures he could see in the trees and the amount of weapons being thrown their way. _You could crush them now … You have the power …_ Sasuke shook his head, ignoring the dark hiss in the back of his mind as his fingers flew to form hand signs.

"Katon: Housenka no Jutsu!" Inhaling deeply, he blew the stream of fire through his curled fingers and into the trees, directing it so that it wouldn't burn the foliage, just who or what ever was hiding amongst it. Interestingly, when the flames came into contact with the shadowy figures, they appeared to disappear in something like black smoke. Almost like clones … Activating his sharingan, he looked at the surrounding woods, and wasn't surprised to find that they all shared the same chakra; a strange, whispy purple color surrounding each figure … They almost looked like they were attached together, like strings.

"Naruto," he called to the blond, whose brilliant blue chakra wasn't too far away – this time he got a response in the form of his teammate landing on the ground on the path reasonably close by. "They're clones." _You don't need help from him; you have all the power you need … If only you would use it … You could destroy them all without a second thought …_

"No they aren't," the other genin will say, and when Sasuke glanced at Naruto, he saw why; the blond's hands were covered in blood. Clones don't bleed, but the enemies he'd defeated certainly hadn't been human. "They don't leave corpses, but they aren't clones either." Brow furrowing darkly, the Uchiha didn't know what that meant. What disappeared after it died but left behind blood …? Did those things even _die_? It didn't matter at the moment – they needed to…

"… Where did they go?" their red headed companion spoke next, and at that question, the red-eyed genin looked up. _What …?_ As quickly as they had appeared, all of the figures had suddenly vanished as if they had never been there. The enemies had retreated. Why had they retreated? Sasuke didn't like any of this … Frowning, he kept looking around for a few moments, but to no avail; the trail was gone, and there was no sign of anything out of the ordinary that would have made them fall back. The shadowed figures had _definitely_ had the upper hand as far as numbers, and there was no sign of a nearby Anbu patrol or anything that might've scared them off … It was concerning and completely baffling all at once. Equally confused, Naruto turned, looking around as well.

"What gives? We were totally outnumbered; why did they leave?" Something was wrong with this entire scenario. Especially with how quickly they disappeared without a trace, even as far as Sasuke's sharingan were concerned.

"Come on; we've wasted enough time," the Uchiha said to the other two, picking his pack back up and slinging it over his shoulders. "We aren't going to make it to Wave Country by nightfall at this rate." It was true; at the pace they'd been keeping initially it had been questionable, but now that they'd made this stop it was becoming increasingly unlikely they'd arrive at their destination today unless they sped up substantially. Naruto had some complaint or another to voice until Mei agreed with the brunet's logical statement. That silenced any complaint from the jinchuuriki, and they were off, Sasuke in the lead, the blond and their charge behind.

Perhaps an hour after they had started walking at this much harsher rate, the Uchiha noticed that the two that were behind him were lagging behind a little. He didn't much care though; they had their orders. Get Mei to Wave Country before nightfall. So that's what they were doing.

"Oi, asshole," Naruto hissed, coming up to match pace with Sasuke quickly and keeping his voice down, "slow down a bit; Mei doesn't look too well…" Hesitating a moment and glancing over his shoulder, the brunet couldn't argue with the assessment; the redhead was starting to look pretty ill. Her skin was paler than it had been and her face looked almost slightly green with nausea. Strange that she looked completely worn out … What could be going on with her? Perhaps this was part of the reason they were travelling with her to Wave Country even though she was clearly a trained ninja?

"Well if she wants to make it where we're going before the end of the evening, she'll push herself through it," the Uchiha asserted with a shrug, which made the blond glare at him. Leaving Sasuke's side, the Uchiha heard the jinchuuriki lag behind near Mei.

"Are you alright?" the blond asked. Sasuke didn't look back or change his pace. Everyone was so concerned with this being a quick mission but the only way for that to happen was if they kept up this pace for the next six to eight hours straight.

"Yes; I'm fine – just a little tired," the brunet heard the young woman affirm. However, it didn't escape the older genin's notice that the blond was moving noticeably slower – he was matching the pace _she_ set. Rolling his eyes, Sasuke followed suit and slowed his steps as well – it was going to waste a lot of time, but then, getting to the Wave country in one day was already asking for quite a bit.

It was several hours later, as the sun was beginning to set, that they dropped their packs in the small cave. Naruto went to collect fire wood while Sasuke and Mei were tasked with finding source of living water to fill their canteens. At this point it would be foolish to continue travelling, so they had all agreed that finding shelter for the night was the most logical course of action. Because of the detour of the fight, they were still in Fire Country, though they were at least very close to the small peninsula that jutted out into the ocean at the Southeastern border, so it would only be a few more hours travel even at their increasingly slow pace.

"Ne, Mei," Naruto started as he heated the water for a cup ramen he had brought with him. Sasuke had rolled his eyes at the frivolity of the 'supply' that the blond had brought with him, but he couldn't say he was surprised. Naruto was simultaneously nothing if not predictable, and at the same time as erratic as a whirlwind. "If you can defend yourself, why have an escort to Wave Country at all?"

The pale teenager said nothing. The question had definitely crossed his mind, along with a billion others concerning this strange mission, so he listened for what her response would be.

"It's really no reason other than being safer with the extra defense. That's why this is such a low level mission and such a small entourage was plenty to accompany me. Your presence was just in case there was any sort of trouble," she explained nonchalantly. The brunet glanced over at her.

"Guess it was good, since we ended up running into some," Sasuke commented, though it was a loaded statement. She hadn't seemed too surprised by the attack, even though she hadn't known it was coming, but at the same time. They had been under the impression that this 'easy mission' wouldn't be much worse than chasing down a cat for a resident of Konoha or something, even if it had potentially been the dreaded Tora.

"I guess it was," Mei agreed, but she said nothing else on the matter. Neither did Sasuke.

"So, hey; what is that Marsh Sickness you mentioned? I've never heard of it before." Sasuke still didn't look at her as Naruto asked his next question; that was another thing that had been nagging at the brunet for most of their journey, ever since they'd happened across that snake just after they left the village. He couldn't think of any illness he had ever heard of that was healed using snake venom, except in cases of making an anti-venom to combat a snake bite, which clearly this was not.

"Most who haven't lived in the Wave Country don't know about it … I really shouldn't tell you too much about it though," she answered apologetically. The Uchiha glanced at her now, expression slightly suspicious. He was not going to ask, but it was clear that the question was there, hanging between the three of them.

"… The sickness is one of the best natural defenses the Wave Country has," she eventually explained as Sasuke watched her, "so the less people outside of the country know, the better it is for the country as a whole." Her explanation on the disease made some degree of sense to him; the less any outsider knows about it, the less likely they will be to develop their own sort of remedy. Sasuke nodded in understanding. It was a reasonable tactic.

"I can tell you the symptoms though," Mei offered, almost sounding like she was extending an apology for not disclosing more information about the illness as a whole. "The first sign of the Marsh Sickness is very intense vertigo; a dizziness overtakes you, and it's usually hard to even stand up. Next comes the real sickness; initially, it is similar to the common cold, with upper respiratory disturbances like coughing and sneezing. After that comes the pain stage, with a sort of sharp, stabbing pain in the head. For most, the disease isn't fatal. Usually, it just lasts up to week and can weaken and incapacitate hostile forces if they contract it all at once. And of course any soldiers who do not contract the disease will have to care for their sick comrades, giving the country's forces the upper hand."

"How can you guarantee that those who invade Wave Country always get sick? It doesn't sound very dependable," Naruto commented after listening to her explanation of the symptoms as he opened his cup ramen back up and started slurping the noodles in what was probably the most annoying fashion one could slurp noddles. In Sasuke's humble opinion anyway.

"Oh, you'd be surprised," she replied with a laugh, "it's fairly prolific, and the vast majority of people living in the Wave Country have a natural immunity. However, as I said, even if an entire invading force was not to contract the illness, their ailing allies would still bog them down. Furthermore, catching the illness once for most outsiders does not guarantee lifelong immunity, which means that it would continue to lay low any invaders during an extended campaign."

"But our team has been to Wave Country before; none of us contracted any disease," Naruto pointed out to her as soon as she finished speaking, before anyone could even take a breath. She nodded in acknowledgement at his argument.

"That was when they started construction on the new bridge, right?" Mei verified, to which Naruto responded with a nod while Sasuke sat quietly. "You only went so far as to the edge of the Wave Country – and besides, that was only a small part of just off the coast of Fire Country, connecting an island to the mainland essentially. Too much salt water; the illness isn't as prolific there." The brunet paused a moment, frowning just slightly. So, salt water made Marsh Sickness more difficult to transmit …? Interesting.

"So if anyone is getting sick," she continued, "it's most likely someone who isn't native to the area or is going into the heart of Wave Country, rather than the outskirts. Of course, if you become sick and are a friend rather than an enemy, you can just wait it out."

"Then what was the point of collecting venom from that snake for an antidote, if it's plausible for allies to wait out the illness?" Sasuke inquired, furrowing his brow in confusion. The red-head paused at the question, glancing at the Uchiha along with Naruto; clearly she had said something she hadn't meant to, and unfortunately for her, Sasuke had noticed. She remained silent for a long moment, considering her words.

"… There's a new strain," she admitted quietly, "and unfortunately this one _is_ fatal … Not only that, but people who have lived in the Wave Country for generations are becoming sick." Sasuke's brow furrowed more; he certainly hadn't been expecting to hear that. A new strain of this illness was fatal, and immunity to the non-fatal version did not preclude you from succumbing to the new one.

This mission was becoming stranger and stranger.

"There has never been a need for an effective treatment before. One was rumored to have existed, but it was generally regarded as an old wives' tale," Mei explained, looking at the small, crackling fire as Naurto continued to slurp his ramen. "I went to Konoha to ask the Godaime for help. Only a few people know of my journey, however. For obvious reasons it would be best if news about this new illness didn't spread outside Wave Country."

"… Which is why you really only wanted a small escort. Big enough to help if there was trouble, but small enough that it would hopefully go unnoticed," Sasuke concluded, and she nodded in response to the statement. _But then, why would anyone want to cause you trouble?_ Dark eyes narrowed slightly; anyone from Wave Country that knew the reason for her mission would want her to complete the objectives and return unscathed because it would save the lives of those that are ill. Anyone from Konoha who knew she was traveling would leave her be because she had come seeking help from their leader and had been granted safe passage. So then who was coming after her …?

The silence stretched on, neither genin saying anything to their charge as the sun fully set. Black eyes watched as it dipped below the horizon until he could no longer see it for the thick trees of the Fire Country. Absently, as if he had forgotten to do so, Sasuke took a capsule from the pouch at his waist, ingesting it along with some water from his newly filled canteen, looking at the fire thoughtfully.

"Oi – Mei," Naruto will say , apparently deciding that changing the subject was prudent, "are you hungry? We're travelling longer than we meant to be, so …" She smiled at him and held up a hand, waving it politely.

"No, not right now. Thank you for your concern though," the red-head responded, turning from the flames to look at the blond who had spoken. He'll nod, though Sasuke can tell he was a little perturbed; honestly he was too. Because of the skirmish earlier they hadn't really stopped to eat, and he hadn't seen her have anything all day either. Kunoichi or not, that was strange. Even the blond and himself had taken food pills while they were travelling, and he could tell by the expression on Naruto's face that he hadn't seen her do the same. The Uchiha hadn't either. All they had seen her do was drink water, which on a journey like this was good of course, but …

Well there was always the chance they had missed her eating. He was going to assume that was the case, because again, they hadn't been informed she was a trained ninja of any skill level, so there could be a host of other things they don't know, one of which being she didn't need to eat or something. Stranger things had happened and it wasn't any of his business anyway. What was his business was making sure the fire didn't go out, but didn't burn to large either – not that there was necessarily any danger in the area, but it was always better to be safe than sorry.

They sat in silence for a while except for the obnoxious _slurp-slurp_ ing noise Naruto periodically made, which was slowly driving the brunet insane. He didn't say anything, though eventually through a sort of unspoken agreement they all turned to retire at around the same time. After putting out the fire, they had little choice but to find a comfortable rock to lay on – they hadn't been planning on this trip to take more than a day, so they hadn't brought supplies to sleep or anything.

Laying on his back, he held still, and was surprised when he didn't hear the other teenager of the group complaining about the ground being too hard or something like that. It was almost surreal … But as time stretched on in the darkness and there were no grievances voiced, eventually the Uchiha drifted off, dark eyes closing as sleep overtook him …

The pain in his shoulder and neck woke Sasuke like clockwork the next morning; his eyes opened blearily before the sun had crested the horizon, and he bit the inside of his lip to avoid making a sound. Gingerly, he reached into the small brown pouch at his waist with his right hand, moving as little as possible to avoid upsetting the left side of himself any further. Managing to retrieve the small container of pills, he flicked it open with a finger, pouring out two onto his chest before resealing it and putting it away. He swallowed the medicine as quickly as he could after that, trying to force himself to breathe normally. The pain was the worst part of this whole ordeal, even more than the hallucinations, although he was becoming reasonably well-versed at ignoring them.

Every time he felt it, he was reminded that it didn't have to be this way. If he would just give in and accept the gift of this power, he would be stronger – maybe infinitely so. He didn't know; he had pushed the thoughts form his mind so many times he'd lost count a long time ago. So instead of thinking of the power he could have and refused, he instead thought of the only other thing that commonly occupied his thoughts. Itachi.

Lying there, he waited for the stabbing pain to subside, and he could see the traitor's face on the cragged ceiling of the cave; it was so fresh in his mind after he'd seen nukenin so recently he could hardly stand it. Every stab he felt in his neck reminded him of that encounter; reminded him that he was too weak to face his brother. Too weak to avenge his family. Too weak to do anything.

Sasuke winced at another sharp jolt of pain. At times like this, it felt like the curse mark had a pulse of its own, echoing in his shoulder, neck, and down his back like an agonizing heartbeat. Letting out a shaky breath, he told himself the same thing he had countless times before; that it was strength to resist the cursed seal. It took a great power to remain unwavering in his resolve when there was an easy answer in front of him. Something that promised if not all the answers, then a good deal of them. And that nagging voice in his head, not the snake that hissed promises of unimaginable power in his ear, but the sound of his own insecurities reminded him constantly that he wasn't good enough. He had never been good enough; he was never as good as his brother at anything. Itachi always surpassed him. And at this rate he always would.

Another pulse made him stop breathing for a moment, breath stuck in his lungs for how painful it was. This chakra infection that Kakashi and Tsunade were able to assist in keeping at bay … He knew it would make him a much more formidable opponent. Even if he still wasn't good enough, he would be _closer_ ; and closer was better than absolutely nothing, which was what he felt he had now. Their meeting when the two Akatsuki had come to take Naruto had proven that to him. Next to his brother he was nothing. Forcing his lungs to contract so he could exhale, he closed his eyes, not wanting to see his brother's face any more. Not that the darkness helped dispel the image of his brother's face, burned into his mind as Itachi held him against that wall by the throat …

Slowly the pain receded to an ache before it eventually felt likenext to nothing to his intense relief, his torso relaxing once he realized that it had fully ebbed. He watched light filter into the shelter they had used for the night, knowing there was no point in trying to go back to sleep because of the time of day. Just as he was about to get up to start packing things away and cleaning up the evidence of the fire they had had the night before, he heard one of their numbersstir. It wasn't necessary for him to glance – he knew it was Mei without the visual confirmation. She moved a bit, and likely sat up before she very quickly headed toward the mouth of the cave, which made Sasuke frown slightly… What was she doing?

The slightly distant sounds of intense retching met his ears the second later, and it was no longer a mystery. She'd been very tired yesterday; the reason they'd been traveling progressively slower was because of her. Was she sick? Brow furrowing, he stayed where he was; clearly she hadn't wanted anyone to know she was leaving the group, so he wasn't going to let on that he noticed. His brow furrowed slightly more; if she were sick, why wouldn't she want them to know? … … Stranger still, if she were sick, why would she not have let the Hokage know? Surely Tsunade wouldn't have been so adamant about a swift journey and return if she had known the woman they were escorting was ill … So why the secrecy? Mulling it over in his head while she was gone, he couldn't come up with a good reason.

He waited patiently for her to return to the cave; hearing the blond roll over in his sleep and start to snore, Sasuke resisted the urge to put a hand to his forehead. It was times like this he was quite certain that his teammate was in fact entirely qualified to be classified as the Worst Ninja Ever. It was a minute or so after that that Sasuke heard her light footsteps return, and he let his eyes fall shut, in case she looked over in his direction before she laid back down, presumably to pretend she was still sleeping. Once again, the brunet was not disappointed.

He wasn't sure how long he should lay still for so that she didn't suspect he'd heard her, but thankfully he didn't end up needing to make the call. A short while later the blond … Seemed to snore himself awake, the noise for a moment louder than it had been previously, and he jolted slightly, startling awake. Sasuke will sigh quietly. There; now he could –

"Oi! Watch it dumbass!" the shout came when his blond teammate stumbled over him, kicking the Uchiha in the side as he most likely tried to go past. Reflexively Sasuke flinched to get away from the foot that was colliding with him, which threw the half asleep Naruto off balance and sent him crashing to the floor on top of the brunet. Shoving at the orange clad ninja before he'd even recovered from his fall, Naruto whined and started asking _Sasuke_ what _his_ problem was. "Are you kidding me!?" was all he could manage as he narrowly avoided being kicked in the face, elbowing him in the side to try and motivate him into swifter action.

"Ouch! Knock it off asshole that hurts!" Naruto bit out the comment, trying to dislodge his foot from between Sasuke's knees, which was only serving to contort the Uchiha's body more since his other leg had managed to get pinned underneath Sasuke's and his arm was trapping the brunet's thigh in place.

"So does being _kicked awake_ , Dobe!" the older nin shouted, trying to shove the blond away and grabbing at his wrist to try and assist with this. A strange muffled noise caught both of their attentions, and they stopped as they were, tangled up and grabbing as well as pushing at each other to try and untangle themselves. The noise was coming from Mei, who was now sitting up and looking at them from across the cave. She was trying to muffle her laughter, but it bursted out a moment later, the sound echoing heartily in the cave for a moment.

"I'm sorry!" she apologized eventually, rubbing at her eyes after the two gennin had sorted themselves out. "I'm sorry you two are just such good friends!" Both teenagers blinked, first at her, then at each other, and then back at her. She'll sigh heavily, fighting not to start chuckling all over again at their confused expression, and instead will decide to take the initiative.

"Right, anyway looks like the sun is up. If you two are all set, shall we get started? We should be to Wave Country before noon at this rate," Mei will say as she starts to clean up the fire pit, scattering the ashes and filling in the recess in the ground so that it would be harder to detect traces of their staying there. It wasn't long after that they had continued their journey, walking toward the rising sun as they walked East, heading straight for Wave Country.

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 **Tsu zu ku …?**

 **(To be Continued …?)**

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Footnotes:

1 – The Fuuja Houin is the Curse Sealing technique Kakashi used on Sasuke to stop his brain from being taken over and destroyed. Yeah.

2 – Yoroshiku = basically "nice to meet you".

3 – I'm sure everyone knows this, but just in case, Dobe is what Sasuke calls Naruto in the original series, and it roughly translates to "Dead Last".


End file.
